An audio scene comprises a multi-dimensional environment in which different sounds occur at various times and positions. An example of an audio scene may be a conference room, a studio, performance hall, gaming environment, restaurant, a forest scene, a busy street or any indoor or outdoor environment where sound occurs at different positions and times.
Audio scenes can be recorded as audio data, using arrays of direction or omni-directional microphones or other like means. In a typical capture arrangement for an audio scene, N recording devices are positioned within an audio space to record the audio scene. The captured signals are then optionally processed and transmitted (or alternatively stored for later consumption) to the rendering side where the end user or application can select from various rendering algorithms that may affect the listening point and/or the orientation and characteristics of the audio information based on preference from the reconstructed audio space. The rendering part then provides a processed signal from the multiple recordings that correspond to the desired and selected perceptual presentation of the source soundfield. The recording devices can be microphones that have a directional characteristic of audio sensitivity, but other types of microphones having any form of suitable characteristics can be employed. Furthermore, the multiple microphones employed may not necessarily be equivalent or even similar and microphones with different spatial and/or frequency characteristics may be used. The rendered or processed output signal may be a mono, stereo, or binaural signal or it may consist of multiple channels.